The Rundown: Dorcel’s ‘Alive’ (Featured Video)
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Basics
“It’s just sex.”
It fits that a movie about music would have its own refrain. Multiple characters in Alive return to this deceptively simple philosophical observation about love and intimacy. Like the chorus in a great song, the phrase reinforces an overall message while resonating anew each time in relation to the verse it just followed.
Directed by Ricky Greenwood (More), Alive finds musician and apparent drifter Vicky (Victoria Voxxx) at an impasse in her life. Fleeing from a mysterious (and initially unspecified) past, Vicky lands a job as waitress in a bar run by one-time country singer Rob (Chad Alva). Though the gig comes with room and board, what Vicky truly craves is the soulful nourishment her music provides. She begins to learn that the people around her have secrets of their own, and that sometimes sex is actually a little more than just sex. The action is interspersed with a memorable soundtrack of original country songs written by some of the movie’s principal actors.
Scene highlights
Spoiler alert: this scene recap divulges Alive plot details
After a terse conversation with bar owner Rob, Vicky settles into her bed to work out music and lyrics for a new song. In the room next door, Isiah Maxwell and Valentina Nappi are sounding out a few passionate, harmonious notes of their own (scene one). Vicky pauses at one point to press her ear against the wall to hear their moaning. Though these two characters are not ultimately major figures in the plot, they have an undeniable chemistry that brings fire to the movie’s involving but dialogue-heavy first half.
Scene two is a major highlight, bringing together Vicky and fellow waitresses Judy (Sophia Locke) and Tara (Queenie Sateen) in the movie’s sole all-girl sequence. Judy, who has taken newb Victoria under her wing, invites her for an al fresco drink so she can meet Tara. She also provides more details about Rob, whose brusque exterior hides inner torments. As the conversation unfolds and wine flows, Tara hints subtly at an interest in a lesbian fling, something that becomes a vivid reality once Tara joins them. By the time they make love, night has fallen, lending the sequence an atmosphere as natural as the charms of the scene’s three performers. The opening of scene three plays almost like a sort of afterglow to scene two, as Victoria masturbates back in her room, with the memory of her recent hookup lingering in her mind.
Scene three’s main action takes us outside the movie’s primary location for group sex featuring Charles Dera, Nicole Doshi, August Skye, and Kendra Sunderland. Dera plays an old associate of Rob, who promises to help when Rob reveals his bar will close if they don’t earn enough money during an upcoming show. Dera celebrates the new venture by hooking up with a posse of beautiful women. It’s a notable achievement when a movie’s cast list is so impressively stocked, superstars like Doshi, Skye, and Sunderland are mere supporting players.
After a successful performance that spotlights the singing talents of Rob, Vicky, and Tara, Victoria runs into some hints of the past she was attempting to flee. Ex-boyfriend Roman Todd, who attended Vicky’s performance, catches up with her at the bar hoping to rekindle their passions. We get glimmers of her previous life when Victoria, in the “it’s just sex” spirit, has group sex with Todd, Ariel Demure, Dillon Diaz, and Cliff Jensen (scene four).
Finally, after Charles Dera’s character promises to save the bar and make Victoria a star, Rob and Victoria break their movie-long sexual tension with a tender love scene. The slower pacing of scene five creates an effective contrast with the more boisterous group sex scenes that came before.
Scene six is a behind-the-scenes documentary featuring interviews with the movie’s cast and crew.
Quotable
“Ricky, he is a great captain. He is a great leader, director. He has a passion for his projects that everybody knows. Ricky cares, and he wants to be here, and he wants it to look a certain way.” (Victoria Voxxx on director Ricky Greenwood) Check out the full podcast interview:
Podcast: Victoria Voxxx – Alive and Singing
Why we love Alive
In its very broadest strokes, Alive is an inspirational story about a musician making the big time. Such a movie might easily descend into sentimentality and schmaltz, but Maddy Barton’s script never takes the easy route. At 170 minutes, Alive reserves plenty of time for dialogue and character development. It also keeps hold of many of its mysteries, some of which remain tantalizingly unresolved even at the movie’s end. Such open threads, though, invite us to consider life as a song that evolves over time but is never quite finished. The movie’s music itself is no afterthought, getting just as much prominence and emphasis as the sexy moments. Even viewers who are not die-hard fans of the genre (country) will appreciate its heartfelt performance here. In the end, Vicky feels very much Alive, body and soul, with still more room to grow.
